Key Takeaways:
- The Director, in consultation with at least three APJs, will now decide the discretionary denial question, rather than having the merits panel decide the issue.
- Discretionary denial will have separate...more
As we near a standoff in Congress on the budget, we write to remind clients about how a government shutdown would affect patent and trademark operations at the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), copyright operations at the...more
A recent Supreme Court decision sets important precedent on the retroactive effect of legislation amending the law governing sovereign immunity in the United States. On May 18, 2020, the Supreme Court handed a victory to...more
6/16/2020
/ Al-Qaeda ,
Amended Complaints ,
Appeals ,
Bodily Injury ,
Congressional Intent ,
Exceptions ,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) ,
Opati v Republic of Sudan ,
Preenactment Conduct ,
Punitive Damages ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
Sudan ,
Terrorist Acts ,
Vacated ,
Wrongful Death
On April 27, the Supreme Court took us on a stroll down memory lane in its decision in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., referring us back to its very first copyright case and revisiting the government edicts doctrine for...more
5/11/2020
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Government Edicts Doctrine ,
Legislative Duties ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Code ,
The Copyright Act
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), trademark holder who proves infringement may receive as damages an award of profits “subject to the principles of equity.” This phrase has divided the circuit courts going back several decades, with...more
7/1/2019
/ Appeals ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Certiorari ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Fashion Design ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Profits ,
Remand ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
In our prior blog entries... we followed the course of Matal v. Tam, the case involving the mark “THE SLANTS.” In that case, the Supreme Court struck down a portion of Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a), on...more
7/1/2019
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Lanham Act ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
On January 8, 2018, the en banc Federal Circuit, in Wi-Fi One, LLC v. Broadcom Corp., held that a PTAB decision upon institution as to whether a petition for inter partes review is timely under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) is...more
1/18/2018
/ § 315(b) ,
Appeals ,
En Banc Review ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Judicial Review ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Wi-Fi One
As part of our continuing monitoring of this issue, we bring you the latest chapter in the saga over the registration of THE SLANTS trademark. After the en banc Federal Circuit struck down Section 2(a) as facially...more
4/2/2016
/ Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Disparagement ,
En Banc Review ,
First Amendment ,
Mandamus Petitions ,
Popular ,
The Slants ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO